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FAITH NO MORE | Motherfucker was released Three Years ago!

On November 28th 2014 Faith No More released their first single since 1998, Motherfucker.

The Song

The first new material by FNM in 17 years was released on
November 28th on 7" vinyl limited to 5000 copies. The single was produced
by Bill Gould, mastered by Moar Applebaum and recorded in their Oakland
rehearsal space. It was released through Ipecac on their own imprint
Reclamation Recordings, with artwork by Cali Dewit. The b-side is a rather
cinematic reworking of the song by J G Thirwell simply titled as a remix.The
single was later released digitally on December 8th topping charts all over the
world including number 1 spots in Finland and Bulgaria.

Metal Hammer | July 2015

Eighteen years after their last outing. Faith No More return
with Sol Invictus, an album that stands alongside the very best of their
illustrious output. In typically contrary fashion, its most radio friendly song
comes saddled with a title that will get it precisely zero airplays anywhere. By god, we've
missed 'em.

Trust Faith No More to release their first new material in seventeen years and no matter how radio friendly and catchy a tune, be unplayable on the airwaves because of it's lyrical content. Between them Roddy Bottum and Mike Patton chant the phrase 'mother fucker' approximately twenty five times.

"It feels apt that the first track we're releasing is
'Motherfucker,' a song about accountability. Basically we've created, recorded
and mixed a new body of work by ourselves and we're releasing it on our own
label. It's a huge deal for us to only have ourselves to answer to at this
point in our career and the song is about that, where the buck stops via the
basic imagery of foie gras production, bondage. . .y'know, stuff like
that."

The lyrical content was about foie gras. Keeping ducks in a
small contained cage and force feeding them and bloating them and then taking
advantage of their body parts and selling it as a commodity. It seemed like a
good allegorical representation of what music was in the early 90s and 80s.

"It felt like a really nice
statement to put out into the public, to let people know we’re not playing any
games. We don’t really care if it’s on the radio. It’s sort of offensive and
playful and bold and maybe a little bit antagonistic. Just the word itself was
a fun thing to put out there. But yeah, it’s totally different than the rest of
the record. It’s me singing on it, which is a little bit different, and it’s
really simple and stripped down. Something called “Motherfucker” just felt like
a nice place for us to kick off a new chapter for Faith No More."

"Motherfucker leaped out at us because Roddy
brought it to us, and it was fairly complete, except for the drums. I like what
Mike sings in the chorus; it makes me laugh. Whenever he says,
"motherfucker," it makes me smile because it sounds as if he's
smiling when he's saying it. On "Super Hero," there are a lot more
layers. It has a lot of energy; it's driving and forceful. To me, that's what
Faith No More should sound like"

"A lot of people were like, 'That's a weird one'. My friends
were like, 'What's that all about?' It's different - it's sparse and
repetitive, it sounds to me like stuff we did when we were younger. People expect us to surprise them. And when we do,
it's like, 'Oh yeah, that sounds like Faith No More'."

"Roddy wrote it. I think it has to do with taking
responsibility for people who think they own us. And calling them motherfucker
[laughs]. It's accountability. Looking back at us as a band years ago, we were
put on this treadmill. We did it to ourselves, too, by not knowing any better.
We were 18 and 19 years old when we started, and we didn't question certain
things. But we were being manipulated a little bit."

"Everything we’ve ever done was from gut feeling even if it
didn’t make a lot of sense at the time. Releasing a song called
Motherf---er as your first track after 18 years makes absolutely no conscious
sense at all, but I think it was the right thing to do. It worked out great.”

Roddy Bottum | Rock A Rolla | June 2015

"We wanted to put something outthere that was clearly us doing something in an
uncompromising way, to let people know that we weren't doing this for radio attention or to make money. We were clearly just doing something that felt right to us in an artistic way, and that set that
tone. A song called Mother fucker is not going to be on the radio. We wanted to
let people know that that's where we were."

"It's a lot like Motown. The music is the property of the artists,
right? We all know this, but big industries take advantage and take ownership
of these properties that are not theirs. It's really crass and over-the-top. The
song is about that, and the consequential reclaiming of what's ours, taking
ownership and retaining it."

Reviews

At the time of release their were mixed reactions about the song from fans and the music press alike. However the reception was generally warm. Rolling Stone

"Motherfucker" marches forth with the doom-laden
raps of their 1989 breakthrough The Real Thing, the triumphant choruses of
their 1997 swan-song Album of the Year, the moan-to-screech dynamics of Mike
Patton's avant-minded solo career and a merciless snare cadence tip-tapping at
the edges of sanity.

It’s probably intended as a warmup for the LP, and is thus
sort of a throwaway for the band, but sonically and structurally, “Motherfucker”
sounds like vintage FNM, owing largely to Mike Patton’s remarkable vocal range
and attack. It’s not going to make anyone forget Angel Dust, but it might make
some people remember Angel Dust, and it sets a pretty high bar for the new
album.

Exclaim

The first song to be released from the group since 1997,
“Motherfucker” takes on properties of the FNM of old, whether it be Mike
Patton’s The Real Thing rap cadence, or the way the vocalist can easily turn
out soaring vocal melodies to gruff and grizzly growls targeting the
“motherfucker” that tricked them in their youth. The music is likewise epic,
evolving from spacious and sinister piano lines into a grand rock escapade.

It’s like, y’know, a bajillion times better than that shitty
video of the band playing it live. I am now more confident than ever than the
new Faith No More album is going to be worthy of the FNM name.

A typically schizophrenic jumble of genres ‘Motherfucker’
features all those classic FNM hallmarks: Patton’s giddy vocal acrobatics, The
Real Thing -era raps, a thunderous rhythm section and those sweeping,
theatrical choruses which defined their later work. It also happens to be
really, really good.

So many bands return after a long hiatus only to disappoint,
they’ve changed or they’ve moved on from their sound, it’s just not the same.
Not Faith No More. Earlier in the year we heard the first live performance of
the first new FNM music in 18 years and now we have an official release of
their brand new track “Motherfucker”. And…..the track does not in any way
disappoint, it’s the gravelly, dark and epic FNM that we love.

Motherfucker is as instantly compelling as some of FNM’s
’90s classics. The song is tightly wound, coiled around starched guitar strings
and clockwork drum rolls. Motherfucker builds on the “greatest” voice in music,
frontman Mike Patton, but refrains from breaking out until its huge outro.
Patton shouts “Get the motherfucker on the phone” over a quality guitar solo.

The implications of this song and its existence are great,
and it had a lot of work to do in order to justify itself in my mind.
Surprisingly, my jaded cynicism and initial distrust were slowly washed away.

The new Faith No More single Motherfucker has been released
from captivity into the world, set free as a menacing yet understated,
contemporary yet idiosyncratic, fulfilling yet frustrating, low-tempo yet
snarling, contemplative yet playful, profane yet beatific statement of intent.